A federal judge in San Francisco has mandated the restoration of $500 million in federal grant funding that was previously frozen by the Trump administration for the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA). U.S. District Judge Rita Lin issued a preliminary injunction on Monday, pointing to probable violations of the Administrative Procedure Act, which governs procedures for federal funding decisions.
The funding freeze initially took place in July when the Trump administration rescinded $584 million in federal research grants. The withdrawal was linked to allegations concerning campus antisemitism, the use of racial criteria in admissions, and the acknowledgement of transgender students’ gender identities, as reported by local sources.
Judge Lin’s injunction included UCLA in a class-action lawsuit that was originally filed in June by law professors from UC Berkeley, who challenged various grant reductions. Other faculty members from UCLA and different UC campuses later joined the suit. It is important to note that neither UCLA nor the University of California system is officially a party to the lawsuit.
In August, Lin ruled to reinstate $81 million in National Science Foundation grants to UCLA, determining that these cuts breached a preliminary injunction established in June. This injunction had previously mandated the restoration of multiple grants that the agency had terminated across the University of California’s 10 campuses.
The White House did not respond immediately to inquiries regarding the ruling. The Trump administration’s actions have aimed to leverage federal funding as a means to urge elite colleges to adopt reforms, characterizing many institutions as heavily influenced by liberal ideologies and antisemitism. Investigations into diversity, equity, and inclusion initiatives have also been launched, alleging discrimination against white and Asian American students.
In reaction to similar claims, two Ivy League schools, Columbia and Brown universities, reached agreements to preserve funding affected by the administration. Harvard University, on the other hand, resisted funding cuts through legal channels, resulting in a federal judge ruling in September that the administration’s funding freeze constituted illegal retaliation for Harvard’s refusal to meet demands.
The Trump administration had suggested settling its investigation into UCLA with a $1 billion payment, a move that California Governor Gavin Newsom has labeled as extortion. UCLA has expressed that such a significant financial obligation would be “devastating” to the institution.
The ruling from Monday specifically pertains to hundreds of medical research grants from the National Institutes of Health. These grants are instrumental in various crucial studies, including those focusing on treatments for Parkinson’s disease, cancer recovery efforts, and nerve cell regeneration. UCLA leaders argue that these grants are essential for advancing public health.
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